Galatians 1:6

Occasion of the Letter

1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one ¹  who called you by the grace of Christ ²  and are following ³  a different ⁴  gospel –

Galatians 2:5

2:5 But ⁵  we did not surrender to them ⁶  even for a moment, ⁷  in order that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. ⁸ 

Galatians 2:21

2:21 I do not set aside ⁹  God’s grace, because if righteousness ¹⁰  could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing! ¹¹ 

Galatians 3:23

Sons of God Are Heirs of Promise

3:23 Now before faith ¹²  came we were held in custody under the law, being kept as prisoners ¹³  until the coming faith would be revealed.

Galatians 4:3

4:3 So also we, when we were minors, ¹⁴  were enslaved under the basic forces ¹⁵  of the world.

Galatians 5:11

5:11 Now, brothers and sisters, ¹⁶  if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? ¹⁷  In that case the offense of the cross ¹⁸  has been removed. ¹⁹ 

Galatians 5:22

5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit ²⁰  is love, ²¹  joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²² 

Galatians 5:24

5:24 Now those who belong to Christ ²³  have crucified the flesh ²⁴  with its passions ²⁵  and desires.

Galatians 6:16

6:16 And all who will behave ²⁶  in accordance with this rule, peace and mercy be on them, and on the Israel of God. ²⁷ 

[1:6]  ¹ sn The one who called you is a reference to God the Father (note the mention of Christ in the following prepositional phrase and the mention of God the Father in 1:1).

[1:6]  ² tc Although the majority of witnesses, including some of the most important ones (Ì⁵¹ א A B F^c Ψ 33 1739 1881 Ï f vg sy^p bo), read “by the grace of Christ” (χάριτι Χριστοῦ, cariti Cristou) here, this reading is not without variables. Besides alternate readings such as χάριτι ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ (cariti Ihsou Cristou, “by the grace of Jesus Christ”; D 326 1241^s pc sy^h**) and χάριτι θεοῦ (cariti qeou, “by the grace of God”; 327 pc Thret^lem), a few mss (Ì^46vid F* G H^vid ar b Tert Cyp Ambst Pel) have simply χάριτι with no modifier. Internally, the reading that seems best to explain the rise of the others is the shortest reading, χάριτι. Indeed, the fact that three different adjuncts are found in the mss seems to be a natural expansion on the simple “grace.” At the same time, the witnesses for the shortest reading are not particularly impressive, being that they largely represent one textual strand (Western), and a less-than-reliable one at that. Further, nowhere else in the corpus Paulinum do we see the construction χάρις (cari", “grace”) followed by Χριστοῦ without some other name (such as κυρίου [kuriou, “Lord”] or ᾿Ιησοῦ). The construction χάρις θεοῦ is likewise frequent in Paul. Thus, upon closer inspection it seems that the original wording here was χάριτι Χριστοῦ (for it is difficult to explain how this particular reading could have arisen from the simple χάριτι, in light of Paul’s normal idioms), with the other readings intentionally or accidentally arising from it.

[1:6]  ³ tn Grk “deserting [turning away] to” a different gospel, implying the idea of “following.”

[1:6]  ⁴ tn Grk “another.”

[2:5]  ⁵ tn Grk “slaves, nor did we…” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, οὐδέ (oude) was translated as “But…even” and a new sentence started in the translation at the beginning of v. 5.

[2:5]  ⁶ tn Or “we did not cave in to their demands.”

[2:5]  ⁷ tn Grk “even for an hour” (an idiom for a very short period of time).

[2:5]  ⁸ sn In order that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. Paul evidently viewed the demands of the so-called “false brothers” as a departure from the truth contained in the gospel he preached. This was a very serious charge (see Gal 1:8).

[2:21]  ⁹ tn Or “I do not declare invalid,” “I do not nullify.”

[2:21]  ¹⁰ tn Or “justification.”

[2:21]  ¹¹ tn Or “without cause,” “for no purpose.”

[3:23]  ¹³ tn Or “the faithfulness [of Christ] came.”

[3:23]  ¹⁴ tc Instead of the present participle συγκλειόμενοι (sunkleiomenoi; found in Ì⁴⁶ א A B D* F G P Ψ 33 1739 al), C D¹ 0176 0278 Ï have the perfect συγκεκλεισμένοι (sunkekleismenoi). The syntactical implication of the perfect is that the cause or the means of being held in custody was confinement (“we were held in custody [by/because of] being confined”). The present participle of course allows for such options, but also allows for contemporaneous time (“while being confined”) and result (“with the result that we were confined”). Externally, the perfect participle has little to commend it, being restricted for the most part to later and Byzantine witnesses.

[4:3]  ¹⁷ tn See the note on the word “minor” in 4:1.

[4:3]  ¹⁸ tn Or “basic principles,” “elemental things,” or “elemental spirits.” Some interpreters take this as a reference to supernatural powers who controlled nature and/or human fate.

[5:11]  ²¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.

[5:11]  ²² sn That is, if Paul still teaches observance of the Mosaic law (preaches circumcision), why is he still being persecuted by his opponents, who insist that Gentile converts to Christianity must observe the Mosaic law?

[5:11]  ²³ sn The offense of the cross refers to the offense to Jews caused by preaching Christ crucified.

[5:11]  ²⁴ tn Or “nullified.”

[5:22]  ²⁵ tn That is, the fruit the Spirit produces.

[5:22]  ²⁶ sn Another way to punctuate this is “love” followed by a colon (love: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control). It is thus possible to read the eight characteristics following “love” as defining love.

[5:22]  ²⁷ tn Or “reliability”; see BDAG 818 s.v. πίστις 1.a.

[5:24]  ²⁹ tc ‡ Some mss (א A B C P Ψ 0122¹ 0278 33 1175 1739 pc co) read “Christ Jesus” here, while many significant ones (Ì⁴⁶ D F G 0122*^,2 latt sy), as well as the Byzantine text, lack “Jesus.” The Byzantine text is especially not prone to omit the name “Jesus”; that it does so here argues for the authenticity of the shorter reading (for similar instances of probably authentic Byzantine shorter readings, see Matt 24:36 and Phil 1:14; cf. also W.-H. J. Wu, “A Systematic Analysis of the Shorter Readings in the Byzantine Text of the Synoptic Gospels” [Ph.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 2002]). On the strength of the alignment of Ì⁴⁶ with the Western and Byzantine texttypes, the shorter reading is preferred. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[5:24]  ³⁰ tn See the note on the word “flesh” in Gal 5:13.

[5:24]  ³¹ tn The Greek term παθήμασιν (paqhmasin, translated “passions”) refers to strong physical desires, especially of a sexual nature (L&N 25.30).

[6:16]  ³³ tn The same Greek verb, στοιχέω (stoicew), occurs in Gal 5:25.

[6:16]  ³⁴ tn The word “and” (καί) can be interpreted in two ways: (1) It could be rendered as “also” which would indicate that two distinct groups are in view, namely “all who will behave in accordance with this rule” and “the Israel of God.” Or (2) it could be rendered “even,” which would indicate that “all who behave in accordance with this rule” are “the Israel of God.” In other words, in this latter view, “even” = “that is.”